296 LARGE GAME. CHAP. vi. 



near the animal, and the cowardly Kaffir curs slunk away 

 with their tails between their legs, to be soon followed by 

 their masters, who one by one dropped out of sight, till 

 we who had guns were left with only the two men who 

 were leading the hounds. It soon became extremely diffi- 

 cult for them to retain their footing among the rocks, and 

 at the same time to restrain their charges, which, bristling 

 up and growling deeply, tugged at their collars in such a 

 way as showed the leopard could not be far off. On a 

 sudden, and without giving us any warning, one of the 

 Dutchmen fired, aiming at the rocks above us ; and the 

 leopard, which he had seen lying on a ledge, sprung down 

 with a snarl, coming straight to us. We all immediately 

 fired at it, but, I think, without hitting it, unless, indeed, 

 with my second barrel loaded with slugs, and in another 

 second it would have been among us, had not the hounds 

 loosed by the terrified natives sprung forward towards it, 

 and meeting it a few yards from us, occupied all its time 

 in defending itself. 



These hounds, if they had been accustomed to the 

 work, ought each to have been more than a match for a 

 leopard, but as this was probably the only one they had 

 ever seen, they did not seize it at the right place behind 

 the head at the nape of the neck ; and though evidently 

 much torn it was soon able to escape from them, after 

 inflicting several nasty gashes, and to take refuge under 

 a large rock about fifty yards off. Here we followed it, 

 and unavailingly fired several shots in the attempt to 

 make it bolt, but as we failed and the hounds could not 

 get in, we were at our wits' end to know how to get at it. 



It was dangerous work coming up close, but we all 



